Interviews with Chris Leonard

We are looking forward to seeing Chris Leonard speak at Busboys and Poets this coming Monday and hope that you join us. If you can’t go in person, please listen in Susan Yeoman’s interview with Leonard about The Meat Racket on What’s For Dinner.

“It’s the story of massive destruction of the US agriculture infrastructure, and an explanation in terms of economics is crucial to appreciate how serious it was. He manages it in a way that’s user-friendly as well as compassionate, incisive and not without hope.

Christopher’s business journalism in the Midwest took him to small towns where he saw poultry and hog farms and beef feedlots going out of business. He was witnessing emergence of what he calls “broken markets” and an almost feudal relationship between growers and owners of big poultry/meat companies. Listen to him describe this as the real backstory to the graying of rural America, as well as the couple years when he thought things might change, what happened instead, where his hopes for the future lie, and the risk that increasing proportions of supermarket meat will be imported.

This week’s show is about actions in the states – the Massachusetts campaign to label GMOs and the foiling of a recent attempt to ban farm sales of raw milk in Illinois.”

This weeks show tackled the GMO labeling bill in Vermont and the Grocery Manufactures’ Association bill offered in the House to stop future state GMO labeling bills. What’s for Dinner? (airdate: 04-21-14)